


Caught In The Rain

by Cottonstones



Series: In-Universe NSP [2]
Category: Game Grumps
Genre: Domestic, F/M, In-Universe Ninja Sex Party, M/M, Minor Violence, Muteness, On the Run, Pining, Revenge, Sign Language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-12
Updated: 2016-08-12
Packaged: 2018-08-08 10:03:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,939
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7753327
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cottonstones/pseuds/Cottonstones
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After abandoning their ninja clan Danny and Brian strive to start new and somewhat normal lives. Years pass by and Danny learns that you can try to leave your past behind but people don't forget and everything has a way of catching up to you.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Caught In The Rain

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Whtevrhpnd2mary](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Whtevrhpnd2mary/gifts).



> This is a sequel to my previous fic [Winds Will Change](http://archiveofourown.org/works/5843632) as well as a commission from [whtevrhpnd2mary](https://whtevrhpnd2mary.tumblr.com/) over on tumblr!

“What about this one?” Danny asks, craning his head up to look at the tall apartment building in front of them. Danny realizes his mistake fast, turning his head to find Brian standing next to him, eyes critically searching over the tanned plain building. 

_“The air smells weird here.”_ Brian signs back, slowly. Danny has noticed that since leaving the compound, abandoning the ninja clan they once called home, Brian hasn’t signed as much, seems almost embarrassed about it; yet at the same time he’s not embarrassed to be standing next to Danny in full Ninja garb, his face mask included. 

“We’re in the city now!” Danny says enthusiastically, “You’ll get used to it.” 

Brian crinkles his nose like it’s the last thing he wants to get used to. Danny understands the feeling in a way. Neither he nor Brian had been used to the world outside of the compound they once called home. Danny had lived in the compound, amongst the ninja clan since he was a child, up until now, until he left. Back then he had only ventured out into the world around them to claim another life, to add another victim to a long list of names. Danny shakes his head, refusing to let himself remember the person he had been. Daniel was gone. He was Danny now. Danny who giggled when cute girls smiled at him, who wanted to wear any color but black, who was now apartment hunting with his best friend. 

Danny and Brian had been staying in a string of cheap motels since leaving the compound, but Danny knew they needed a more permanent residence. A part of him longed for the comfort of his small home back at the compound, but as he looked at the tall building he thinks maybe he just wants somewhere to call home, a sense of belonging once again. 

_“I guess it wouldn’t hurt to look at it.”_

“That’s the spirit,” Danny says, clapping Brian on the shoulder before he makes for the small set of concrete stairs that lead up to the front door of the building. 

\--

A couple of days later they are officially moved in. The two had little to no possessions to bring with them, the apartment barren except for the clothes Danny had hung up in the closet and some books that Danny had bought for Brian when the two of them were exploring the expansive downtown shopping district near their new home. The apartment was small though it still housed two bedrooms, a tiny square of a kitchen that was separated from the living room only by a thick section of counter space. Danny didn’t mind. He was used to a minimalistic lifestyle, used to finding peace within himself, though he hasn’t meditated once since he left the clan. 

The apartment is quiet, draped in darkness. Danny is laid out on the floor, no bed quite yet, instead he’s sleeping on top of a thin sheet, extra clothes serving as his pillow. His body is uncomfortable but it’s not the worst he’s ever felt. He lies there awake, listening to the sound of the city around him and how much it differs from the quiet peace he once knew.

Danny has just drifted off to sleep, feeling his body slip into the dimness of unconsciousness and that’s when he’s awoken by a quiet thud of footsteps. Danny jerks awake, sitting up straight in bed. He nearly calls out to Brian, but his ninja training kicks in. Regardless of whether or not Danny still _wants_ to be a ninja, the lessons he’s learned are engrained within him, coming to him as easy as breathing. 

Danny pushes up off the bed, no weapon close to him. He had laid down his sword and promised to never again pick it up. He was done with that. His heart beats fast in his chest as he creeps to his bedroom door. He had left it cracked so that if Brian needed him he wouldn’t have to bother knocking before he came inside. 

The apartment is dark, just the pale of the moon seeping in through a curtain-less window, it’s white reflection creeping over rough wooden floorboards. Silent as the night itself, Danny slips through the gap of his door and into the tiny square of living room. Perhaps he had misheard? Maybe it was a neighbor above or below them and Danny simply wasn’t used to the odd noises the building makes. 

Danny scans the room around him, eyes straining in the corners of the darkness. If someone were here they’d be waiting for the right moment to strike, to surprise Danny and catch him off guard. His body goes tense, defensive, his breathing slowing. 

“You may as well show yourself,” Danny says, more confidence than he actually feels. If someone were in his apartment the least he can do is strip away the act of surprise, “I know you are here.” 

To Danny’s surprise there are footsteps and then from the shadows emerges a lean figure clad in black, and though it is dark Danny can so clearly see the symbol of his old clan; twin golden dragons curling around themselves, twining together, one dragon’s mouth open preparing to eat the tail of its partner. Danny had studied this symbol a lot in his youth, bore it across his chest, still sees it bright and loud on Brian’s clothes, but he’s never liked it. Elder used to say it was meant to represent your place in the clan, loving something so much you’d die for it. All Danny ever thought about it was that it felt more like letting something you love kill you. 

This ninja is a symbol of his old life walking towards him. The ninja’s face is covered, so Danny is unsure if he knows them. Maybe it’s better for him if he doesn’t know. He isn’t surprised that the clan has sent an assassin to him. He knew it was bound to happen the moment he and Brian slipped out of the compound. 

“Daniel,” The figure says, male and his voice light, but Danny can’t quite place it. He flinches at the use of his old name. 

“You’ve come to kill me?” Danny asks. 

The man nods and Danny notes the blade catching in the moonlight, the weapon gripped loose in the ninja’s hand. “Elder has sent me with two tasks. One being to convince you to return to us…” the man trails off. 

“And the other?” Danny says, sparing the man no comfort, forcing him to speak the assignment he was given. 

“To kill you if you refused.” 

Danny nods. No matter that he knew it was going to happen, that he knows the rules of the clan where he was raised, he still can’t quite believe that the same village that raised him, the clan he was so willing to fight and defend, would repay him by ordering his death if he didn’t return. 

“Brian too,” The ninja adds. 

Danny arches an eyebrow, “Brian? My student? He is not with me. I worried for his safety, to hear he isn’t there, I only worry more.” Danny lies easily, stories slipping from his tongue, just as he had spun a pretty tale for the waitress he had met when he called himself Danny, how he had invented a new life, a new identity in a single second. 

The ninja, the assassin sent to retrieve or end Danny, he hesitates, stance shifting on his feet. 

“What is your decision, Daniel?” 

“I am never going back.” 

“Daniel,” The ninja tries again, voice edging on a hint of desperation, like he really doesn’t want to fight, “Just come back and all can be forgiven. We are a clan, a united force, we- “ 

“I am not Daniel,” Danny says, “And I am not going back.” 

The ninja sighs, a long low whisper of air. He draws his blade up and at the ready. 

“You are sealing your own demise.” 

The ninja launches himself at Danny, swinging wide with his blade. Danny darts backwards, skidding out of the line of the sword. He has no weapon, his body tensing as surges into a defensive stance. The ninja is quick, ruthless in his attacks, giving Danny only seconds to jerk out of the way of the falling metal. He hadn’t truly thought this through. He could fight with his hands and feet, but it meant getting close enough to do so, it meant disarming the man. 

The ninja swings out again, the arc too wide and Danny ducks, the blade smacking into the thick wood of the nearby wall and sinking in, getting momentarily stuck. The ninja tries to pull his blade free, a look of wild desperation in his eyes. Danny slides close, thrusts out his fist and connects with the ninja square in his chest, surprising the man and knocking the wind out of him momentarily. The ninja slides back, not losing his stance as he recovers, his sword still jutting out of the wall. 

He knows the man’s movements, knows the clan and what they teach, the lessons drilled into him as same as it was to this man that stands before him. There is little this ninja can do that would truly be surprising to Danny. 

Pain washes through Danny even though he has not been touched. The clan was digging into him, forcing him to show who he still is, that Daniel is still inside of him, preventing Danny from sinking into his persona, into the person he wants to be. He doesn’t want to fight, or hurt, or kill. He _doesn’t want it_. 

“No more,” Danny says, throwing a hand up when a punch whizzes too close to his face, “Leave me!” 

The ninja doesn’t respond, just throws another well-aimed punch that connects to Danny’s jaw, making Danny’s head spin. 

“I don’t want to do this!” Danny yells in the small space of the room, “I don’t want this!” 

Danny feels on edge. This isn’t how he used to fight. He was once emotionless and cold, closed off and focusing on nothing but his movements. Now he’s straining with reigning in his feelings, the panic that he can never truly escape the clutches of the clan. 

Then, there’s a whirl of movement, the sound of feet moving faster than the shuffle of either of their own, and then there is the slick sound of a blade piercing flesh, and Danny takes a few staggered steps backwards, fear rocketing through him. 

The ninja in front of him gurgles in surprise and Danny watches as Brian pushes his body off of his blade, letting him fall to the floor. Danny meets Brian’s eyes and Brian flicks his sword, removing the blood, a move Danny has done so many times before. Brian tucks his blade away before he starts signing at Danny. 

_“Are you hurt?”_

“I’m fine,” Danny says, “He just punched me is all.” 

_“You could have killed him.”_

“I can’t. I know I have the skill, but I can’t…I won’t kill anymore, Brian.” 

Brian is quiet and Danny steps back out of the encroaching pool of the fallen ninja’s blood. 

_“They’ll send more,”_ Brian says. 

Danny nods, runs a hand through his hair, and sighs. 

“I know, and I know it isn’t fair for you to take all the risk, to fight for the both of us. I understand if you want to go back, Brian. I understand if you don’t want to do this anymore.”

Brian frowns, _“I already told you I’m not going anywhere. I’ll fight for you because I made the choice to stay. I am still a ninja. I’m still what you made me. I have no clan to protect, so I will protect you.”_

Danny flushes at Brian’s words, his loyalty to Danny still tied to the idea of the student and the teacher. He nods, too shaken to do much else but honestly accept whatever help he could get. Brian was allowing Danny to step back into the life he wanted, to hide away from what he once was, and Danny doesn’t want to look too closely at the _why_ of it all, the reasoning behind Brian’s unending loyalty. 

Brian deposes of the body in the quiet of the night and as Danny lies on the floor, sweating on his thin sheet bed, he can hear Brian out in the living room, the gentle scrub of Brian cleaning blood from the floor. Danny closes his eyes, but he can still see Brian’s hands moving as he spoke to Danny. 

_‘I’m still what you made me.’_

\--

Seven years pass in what feels like the blink of an eye. It was as if time moved differently out here in the real world, outside of the compound that Danny had once called home. For Danny, now in his mid-thirties and Brian pressing a little older than that, the life back in the clan felt like a small eternity, now felt so long ago that it isn’t hard to pretend that he was never Ninja Daniel, because at this point he feels more like Danny than he ever was Daniel. 

He and Brian outgrew their first apartment, and now lived in a small two-bedroom house tucked quietly into the middle of a suburban neighborhood, the house unassuming, unsuspecting, doing nothing to draw attention to itself. They had chosen it because of that factor, because it made it easier to hide. True to Brian’s words, and Danny’s thoughts, that first assassin that had attacked them in their apartment was only the tip of the iceberg. 

The clan sent so many more. There was an endless stream of ninjas, sometimes duos, sometimes three at once, all with the sole mission to kill Danny and Brian. It was no longer an option of returning. They had slain too many of their former clan to be welcomed back with open arms. The only option facing them now was death. True to the vow Danny had taken seven years ago, he never fought back, never killed. Brian took to that task, never once flinching as his sword sliced through their former clan-members like paper.

Over the course of those seven years, when Danny and Brian had to leave their apartment, when they were too easily found, when sometimes the ninjas wanted to attack in public, after killing so many of the clan, the number of attacks began to dwindle. It made sense, each time a ninja was sent out to kill they wouldn’t return, and every time the clan sent another member out, it lost that strength, that power. Danny only figured that eventually, the clan lost too much, realized if they gave anymore they could lose everything. 

Now, Danny and Brian lived a somewhat calm and peaceful life. The sort of life that Danny had always wished to have, one full of carefree adventures, full of pretty girls who smiled at Danny when he’d take their hands, pressing feather soft kisses to their skin. A life that offered him laughter, sometimes pain, but not the kind that threatened to destroy him, but instead the kind that made him feel alive. 

The morning was bright and Danny was eating oatmeal out of one of the little glass bowls, patterned with blue and pink flowers, that ‘Granny Sexbang’- the little old woman who lived next door, that Danny had become unequivocally attached to and had somewhat ‘adopted’ as his own grandmother- had given Danny and Brian when she bought a new set. 

Brian wanders into the kitchen. It’s early, the sun only having just risen an hour or two ago, but Brian is sweating, looking like he’s been up for hours now. 

“All done training?” Danny asks. 

Brian nods, for the moment he’s shirtless, wiping at his brow, and for all the years that have passed the scar decorating Brian’s throat never fades. It stands out white and raised, angry, a constant reminder, the one thing in the world that will never allow Danny to fully forget who he once was. Danny averts his gaze from Brian and coughs. 

“I, uh, I made you some oatmeal? If you want it?” 

Brian’s hands move slowly, as if fatigued, _‘Not hungry’_ Instead Brian opens the fridge and pulls out a water bottle, uncapping it and swallowing down half in one go. He wipes at his mouth, re-capping the bottle and setting it on the counter. He glances at Danny. _‘I’m going to go meditate.’_

“Okay, Brian,” Danny says around a spoonful of oatmeal, “Dr. Sung asked me to help them hunt rattleboys out in the desert today. Do you want to come?” Danny ventures. 

Brian arches an eyebrow before he shakes his head, _‘Definitely not.’_

“Suit yourself!” Danny says, finishing his oatmeal before he slides past Brian to deposit the bowl into the sink. 

_‘It’s your turn for dishes, you know.’_

Danny rolls his eyes, “Thanks, _Mom_. I’ll do them after dinner.” 

Brian makes the sign for a sigh, one that if Danny tries hard enough, he imagines he can hear, the low brush of Brian’s breath, and how sometimes Danny struggles to remember what Brian had once sounded like. The two of them have created a quiet domesticity together that Danny doesn’t think would work with anyone else. These two opposing lifestyles, united as one, linked together by fate and loyalty. By now Danny barely needs the sign language to understand Brian, now he knows Brian’s looks, the curve of his brow speaking volumes to Danny. 

“I’ll see you later,” Danny says, toeing on his sneakers and throwing a wave at Brian as he slips out their side door. 

Seven years ago Brian would have never let Danny wander out into the desert alone, especially with a bunch of stranded space aliens, but things were different now. _Life_ was different now. 

\--

Darkness permeates the majority of the room, the light of the candle flickering a yellow-gold on the nightstand near the bed is just enough for the young man seated on a chair pulled up next to the bed to make out the face of the dying man laid out on the mattress. The breathing of the man in bed is harsh, shallow, ragged like every draw is difficult, the younger man, watching all this with rapt attention imagines that likely it is. 

The man in the bed is the elder of the clan, a position occupied by him for as long as the younger man watching over him has been alive. All the younger of the two has ever known was the man before him holding the power, making the decisions, leading the clan.

“I’m not long for this world, Zan,” The elder breathes out, his voice a rasp in the quiet of the night. 

The younger man- Zan- he reaches out and lays a hand over the elder’s. There is an honest sorrow in his chest, a real sadness at the impending demise of his elder, but the elder is very old, his death coming to him at the tail-end of a long and drawn out illness. 

“I…have something…a task for you, my boy.” 

Zan nods, his mouth firming, “Anything, Elder.” 

The Elder looks at Zan with shining eyes, “I want you to take over for me. I want you to begin to lead the others. I know you can do it, Zan.” 

Zan nods, bowing his head to the elder. He doesn’t want to show the excitement that shoots through him. He had been apprentice to the elder for a long time, years now, and he was hoping to secure the title once the elder had passed on to his next life, his next state of being, and now it was finally happening. 

“It is an honor, Elder,” Zan whispers in the quiet of the room, “I will do the very best I can to make sure our clan is prosperous.” 

The elder smiles, reaches out with a shaking wrinkled hand to touch at Zan’s warm cheek, the old man’s fingers icy and cold. Zan accepts the touch. The elder for many years had been something of a father figure after Zan’s own father, a rather skilled ninja, had been killed while on assignment. He’s thought about it so many times before and the idea doesn’t escape him now. It was this man on the bed that had a hand in assigning Zan’s father to the mission that killed him, and now Zan would be taking on that role, would be the one to dole out the fates of others. Once he thought he was unprepared for that sort of task, but now he felt he was more than ready. 

Elder lowers his hand back to the bed. 

“I shall save a seat for you at my side in the afterlife,” Elder says. 

Zan smiles, sadly, “Hopefully not for many more years now, my Elder.” 

The elder nods, eyes drooping slightly as if he had no more strength left in his body to keep them open. Zan watches in the dim light as the Elder’s chest slows, the harsh breathing growing softer until it is gone, the elder snuffed out quietly, like someone blowing out a candle. 

Zan rests his hand over the elder’s heart, feeling for even the faintest of beatings, but he finds none. Truly, the Elder has moved on from them now, leaving behind the clan for Zan to tend to. 

The young man stands from his seat, legs aching from holding the position throughout the night. He pads quietly to the door, tugging it open, and immediately three faces, men who worked under the elder, served as his council and fellow caretakers, they look up at Zan with wide and worried eyes. 

“The Elder has gone,” Zan says. 

The men bow their heads in sadness, muttering silent chants for the Elder’s safe passage into the next world. 

“Who had the elder named as our next leader?” one of the three asks. 

Zan stands tall before them, rolling his shoulders back, the dark strands of his hair brushing the back of his pale neck. “Elder has bestowed the honor upon me.” 

The three men exchange glances, but none of them seem surprised. It was common knowledge that the Elder and Zan were close, that Zan was learning a great deal from the man. The men seated before Zan stand and they move around him in a half-circle, bowing. 

“Our new Elder,” they say, though it sounds laughable to Zan’s ears considering these men are also a great deal older than him, closer to that of the age his father would be. Still, Zan takes the title with pride, with a fire blooming in his stomach. He has plans, ideas worming through him, hatching inside his mind and tunneling through him. They had been for ages; he was just waiting for the right moment for them to be set into action. 

The state of the clan was in disarray. It was not the home that Zan had known as a child, when he was only three, too young to remember or appreciate the compound as it had been when all was peaceful and right. The clan was once strong, once one of the best, nearly untouchable. These days the clan was barely surviving, housing a small number of ninjas, and though they were small in size they were extraordinary in skill. 

“Do you have any immediate tasks, my Elder?” one of the men asks, Zan. 

Zan nods, a determination steeling inside of him. He knows what must be changed, his plan to fix the clan, mend what was broken. The first step to him was restoring the honor that came with the name, and the best way to do that was to eliminate any dishonor, any problems, the biggest problem to Zan loomed heavy in his mind. 

“We cannot allow traitors to go unpunished,” Zan says, his voice soft but firm in the hall. The men in front of him, their eyes lift to his face, questioning, “To restore honor we must punish the ones who stole strength from our clan, we must take back our honor from them.” Zan’s brows furrow, his voice like steel, “We must destroy Ninja Daniel.” 

The men around him gasp before remembering that they are in front of the new elder and they school their surprise, temper their words, “But we haven’t gone after Daniel in nearly four years.” 

“Four years too long,” Zan says, “When he left he stole our security, betrayed the home that taught him the skills he used to kill his own. The first step to restoring balance is to kill Ninja Daniel once and for all.” 

Zan barely remembers this ‘Daniel’ knows him more from exchanged stories than any actual memories of the man on the compound. He was too young, too much a child to pay attention back then. All he knows is that Ninja Daniel is a traitor, that his father was sent to kill Daniel and died instead, all Zan knows is the infamous tale of the only two traitors from the clan to never perish for their treason. The former elder was too soft, too attached to the Daniel he once knew and after losing too many men had called off the assignments on the traitorous duo. Zan held no affection for either man, held no sentimental knowledge. All he wanted was Daniel dead, honor for his clan, and to reclaim the title they once held so proudly. 

“I’ll choose the ninja to take the mission,” Zan says, pulling away from the men, “It will not fail this time.” 

\--

Danny is on his way home from the desert, the sun bright and hot over him. He had spent several hours walking the trails of the desert area with his alien friends, helping them to catch rattleboys. To Danny’s surprise, they had been successful, catching at least three rattlers, Danny standing watch as Meouch and Phobos boxed the snakes up. 

He was heading home now, walking, as he had declined the ride offered to him by his friends in their snake-filled van. Danny didn’t mind walking. He did very little training these days, and the intense walks reminded him of the way he used to push his body to the absolute limits, the strength that once coursed through him in waves. 

After a short time, Danny winds up in a small strip of stores and shops. He thinks about picking up dinner for him and Brian, and he doesn’t actually realize that he’s standing in front of a glass doorway, caught in contemplation of whether or not Brian would eat sushi three nights in a row until he hears a soft voice clearing its throat behind him. 

“Excuse me?” The gentle voice says. 

Danny turns and he’s greeted by a lovely young woman, soft ginger colored hair and bright blue eyes. She blinks at him with mild confusion. 

“How can I help you?” Danny says, smiling, his body fading into its new instincts, it’s natural charm. 

“Um, I’m just trying to get into the restaurant…. you’re kind of blocking the door?” 

“Oh, how silly of me, excuse me, Miss…” He trails off, grinning at her.

She rolls her eyes, seemingly on to his games but she still tells him her name, “Julia.” 

“Julia,” Danny says, “That’s beautiful.” 

The woman smiles, tucks a strand of copper hair behind her ear, “Thank you.” 

Danny had been an excellent ninja, had excelled in killing, in performing his tasks, now that the life of a warrior was behind him it seemed his skills had transferred to a new medium: that of seducing women. It wasn’t intentional, and he wasn’t out to hurt or treat anyone unkindly. 

He had spent so many years of his life- twenty-nine to be exact- repressing emotions and isolating himself from everyone but Brian, that when he allowed himself to feel, he realized he had no clue where to begin. Even seven years later emotions were something of a mystery, amazing, wonderful, but frightening at the same time. Danny found he enjoyed physicality more, liked how touching a woman, kissing her, making love to her, could feel the same as sparring, could become muscle memory to him. Emotions were hard, where touch was easy. 

An hour later Julia pulls up in Danny’s driveway, the two of them exiting the car, a take-out bag of sushi dangling from Danny’s hand. Julia laughing at some story Danny is telling her as they make the walk up to the front door. Danny isn’t nervous, not really, Julia is sweet, had spent the drive over telling Danny about her life, her apartment, her job as a dental assistant, what she was going to school for, and he had listened and chimed in when needed. 

Brian never minded having female company over, though he usually liked to know ahead of time. With his skills Danny is sure he could hear them coming, was sure Brian knew he had a guest over, and this kind of thing happened with enough frequency that it was old routine by now. 

“Nice place,” Julia says as Danny closes the door behind her and she scans the semi-cleaned interior of the living room, “You live here all alone?” 

“No, I have a roommate, oh, there he is now!” Danny says, pointing to the kitchen off to the left where Brian had emerged from his room, probably to inspect the talking. He was dressed in his full ninja gear and Danny can see Julia stiffen momentarily next to him. 

“Brian this is Jamie. Jamie this is Brian.” 

“ _Julia_ ,” she reminds him, giving him a pointed look.

Dan flushes, runs a hand through his hair, “My apologies, my sister’s name is Jamie so it just kind of slips out.” 

Julia doesn’t seem convinced, but it’s enough to get her to stay and Danny feels a pang of guilt. Sometimes his mind moves too fast, planning out his next steps and he loses his current thread of thought, the important facts. 

Brian offers Julia a small wave, his eyes flickering curiously over Danny and the girl. 

“I, uh, brought you some sushi. Julia here is an expert and recommended some new stuff,” Danny says, moving forward to offer the box to Brian, while Julia giggles at the compliment. 

Brian takes the bag, setting it on the counter, before nodding his thanks. He doesn’t like to sign in front of strangers, preferring to take on the role of the strong silent type instead. 

“Maybe we can watch that movie?” Julia says, batting her eyes at Danny, “Like you said?” 

“Ah,” Danny says, “Right, if you’ll excuse me, Brian.” 

Brian waves Danny off, choosing instead to open the takeout container and inspect the dinner Danny had brought for him. Danny and Julia settle on the couch and Danny goes through the motions of putting on a movie, settling next to her, their thighs touching, her skin warm where her skirt is beginning to ride up. 

They make it five minutes into the movie before Danny slides an arm around her, ten before he noses at her ear, and at fifteen minutes in, her mouth is pressing against his, his hands inching up her back over the silk of her shirt. 

“Maybe,” Julia says, “You should show me your bedroom?” She bites her already red bottom lip, prompting Danny to nod, leaning in to kiss where her teeth had left indents at her mouth before taking her hand and leading her towards his bedroom. 

Brian had still been hanging around, eating dinner at the table, the mouth of his mask pulled down just enough to allow him to eat. Danny glances at him as he leads Julia to his room, and it’s just a second, just a moment, but Danny is sure he sees Brian’s mouth caught in a deep frown. 

Did Brian disapprove? Did he not like Julia? Danny thought she seemed lovely, even more so once she stood before him all naked pale and freckled skin, pressing him down onto his back on his own bed. Brian usually didn’t comment on the women, usually paid them no mind, sometimes even helped Danny, especially in the early days when his social interactions were verging on painful to watch. Danny tried not to focus on Brian as Julia wrapped her legs around him, clutching at him with perfect thighs, but his former student being upset nagged at his chest, even as he kissed Julia breathless. 

\--

The next morning Julia stays and has breakfast. Danny making her eggs, smiling at her, a fondness filling him, but when she asks if maybe they can see each other again, maybe go out somewhere, a sliver of panic wedges into his chest. Danny fumbles over excuses about being busy, about work being consuming, and he watches Julia’s smile begin to fade. She still eats breakfast, but the brightness of the morning seems to drain out of the room. Danny glances towards the hallway that leads to Brian’s bedroom door. The man must be awake, likely training, but Danny would give just about anything for Brian to come out and serve as at least a mild distraction. 

When Julia does leave, Danny kisses her on the cheek and he keeps her phone number when she hands it to him on a slip of paper, waving to her as she walks to her car, thanking her for the lovely night they had spent together. He knows he won’t call; he won’t see her again. The more people you involve, the more you let get close, the more you stand to lose if things go bad. 

The only person that had promised to stand beside him through anything was Brian. Danny can’t let a girl make that same promise without fully understand the weight behind it. It’s better they view him as a villain, as an uncaring jerk, then to put anyone at risk. 

When Danny goes back to the kitchen he sees Brian stacking plates into the sink. 

“Hey, I know I didn’t do the dishes last night. I’ll do them now,” Danny says. 

Brian throws a quick sign, _‘Don’t worry. I got it.’_

Danny frowns, Brian hadn’t even looked at him, too focused on the dishes in the sink. 

“Brian, really, I’ll do them.” 

Danny moves to step up to the sink but then Brian is turning and Danny is surprised to find his gaze is somewhat hardened, somewhat cold. He’s not totally surprised, there are some days when Brian doesn’t want to talk, when he’s tired or irritated. The frown from last night plays over in Danny’s head. He raises his hands in surrender and takes a step back from the sink. 

“Alright, Ninja Brian.” 

Brian scans the room around them, _‘You kicked her out already?’_

“I didn’t kick her out! She had to go home to get ready for work.” 

_‘Are you going to see her again?’_

Danny gives Brian an odd look, “Do I usually see them again, Brian?” 

Brian shrugs, _‘You seemed to like her’_

Danny nods, “I did like her.” 

He’s wearing the mask, but Danny can still see that same frown tugging at Brian’s face. 

“Was something wrong with her, Brian? You’ve seemed off since last night.” 

_‘The sushi tasted like shit.’_ Brian signs, switching back to the sink and turning the faucet on, finishing their conversation. 

\--

The next day Danny is out alone once again, Brian back at the house sticking to his usual self-imposed routine of training and meditating. Danny is at the store, picking up groceries, trying to decide between the best looking carrots for when he and Brian travel to the woods to see the Barricorn once again. He learned that the best way to get the beast to aid them was by offering tasty snacks, and the Barricorn seemed particular to carrots. 

He reaches for a bag when his hand brushes warm soft fingers that happen to be reaching for the same bag of carrots as him, his eyes drifting up to find piercing green, finding soft blonde hair that falls around narrow shoulders in loose waves. He finds pink lips parting in a tiny smile. 

“Oh, sorry,” Danny says, “Did you want those?” 

The woman’s smile widens, she flutters long dark lashes at him, “I suppose I could live without them.” 

Danny feels a flush take over his face, “Y-You can have them,” he stammers, nervous under this gorgeous woman’s intense stare. It reminds him a bit of the way that Brian’s gaze always seems to be able to pin Danny down, this mystery woman’s look feels similar, like Danny is stuck to the floor, no chance for his stupid feet to be convinced to move. 

“That’s awfully sweet,” she says in a voice low and naturally sweet, thick like honey, “What’s your name?” She asks, “So, I know who to thank.” 

“Danny,” he breathes, feeling out his element by this lovely woman in front of him. 

Besides the blonde hair and emerald eyes, she’s wearing a dark dress that’s hugging the curves of her waist, showing off her tanned arms and legs. She looks like she stepped right out of Danny’s dreams. 

“Danny,” she repeats, “You know, I’ve heard good things about men named Danny.” 

“You have?” Danny asks, completely smitten with the woman already. Nothing too unusual, he has a terrible tendency to fall for girls too fast, leaving them just like Julia. 

The blonde nods, tucks hair behind her ear, “I’ve heard they know how to pick the best carrots,” she says with a wink. 

Danny feels his heart flutter in his chest, he lets out an idiotic giggle. 

“I mean, I’m no expert, but I do have experience with things that are long and juicy.” The woman laughs, it’s warm and it makes his grin widen, “I, uh, didn’t catch your name?” 

She extends a hand, long nimble fingers, short nails and lacking any jewelry, her smile softens when he meets her eyes, “Alice.” 

“Alice,” Danny repeats, like her name is something mystical, a part of a spell, uttered with reverence. He takes her hand in his, her skin warm and soft, and Danny has the very real urge to trail fingertips along her arm, up to her shoulder, track the trail with his mouth to find out what she tastes like, if all of her is as soft as her hand is. 

Alice pulls back and really their interaction is done, and they have no reason to keep speaking, but she doesn’t leave and Danny really doesn’t want her to go. She does turn, her back facing him, showing off the arch of her shoulders and the line of her backside and Danny can’t help but stare, his throat dry. 

“Here,” she says, and then she’s handing him a bag of carrots and oh, right, he was shopping wasn’t he? “You still needed them, right?” 

Danny nods dumbly, smoothing a hand through his hair, “For my Barr- um, my pet horse.” 

Alice’s eyes brighten, “You have a horse?” 

“Oh yeah,” Danny says, “I’ve tamed many a wild steed in my day.” 

Alice smiles, “Why don’t you and I finish shopping, and go somewhere a little more private? I’d love to hear more.” 

Danny throws on his best smoldering look as he nods, “I’d love to do just that my fair maiden.” 

\--

Alice and Danny finishing shopping, the both of them leaving with a singular bag of carrots, Alice’s for her dinner and Danny’s for his ‘horse’. The privacy Alice had been looking for happened to be at a small diner not far from Danny’s neighborhood. They order food and Danny spends a good portion of the meal regaling Alice with tales of his adventures with Brian. He doesn’t mention anything about his ninja days, instead elaborating on smaller events, filling them with entertaining fantasy. Alice listens intently, never making a face of disbelief like some girls Danny had shared his adventures with. Her eyes are kind and happy as she listens, laughing or nodding sympathetically along with the stories. 

The meal only serves to make Danny all the more interested in the girl. By the time their food is gone he’s longing to kiss her, to thread fingers in her soft blonde hair, hold her close to him. He feels a twinge of something, maybe fear, because it’s been a long while since he felt himself deeply attached so quickly to a girl. That’s when his instincts kick in, when touch and physicality leap to him, emotions were difficult, he didn’t know what they meant, touching her was easy, _that_ he knew how to do, felt sure in his body and his hands, and how they could please her in a way his emotional self might not ever be able to do. 

The two of them split the check and then they find themselves out on the street corner, dusk settling in around them, twinging everything a soft blue. Alice looks stunning even now, under the neon lights of the diner’s blinking sign, her blonde hair washed out to a bright pink. 

 

Danny is bold and he takes her hand in his, feels her fingers curl around the back of his hand. 

“May I kiss you?” Danny asks, his voice sliding deep with need. He wants to, so badly, the hunger burning inside of him. 

Alice nods and Danny uses her hand to bring her closer to him, pressing their mouths together, their bodies barely touching but Danny can feel electricity coursing through him where their skin meets. He touches her hip, the dip of her waist, the dress light against his palm, and he imagines tugging it up, pushing it around her hips so he could touch her thighs. 

Alice breaks the kiss, “That’s all for tonight,” She breathes, but her eyes are sparkling in this way that makes Danny’s chest go tight. 

“It is?” Danny asks, trying to mask the disappointment in his voice. 

She nods, brushing fingers through her hair, “But I would like to see you again. Maybe tomorrow? Lunch?” 

“Lunch,” Danny repeats, nodding, “That sounds good.” 

Alice gives him a sly smile, private and small. 

“I’ll meet you here, tomorrow, at noon.” 

Danny nods again, like he’s being told instructions to find a buried treasure and he has to memorize them. 

“Tomorrow,” Danny repeats, head swimming, like that time he drank too many beers at that club he and Brian had gone to and they left because the room had started to spin, Brian having to partially carry Danny all the way back to their apartment. 

Then Alice is gone, hips swishing away into the night and Danny feels strange, and warm, and he doesn’t move from that spot on the corner until Alice is swallowed up by the dark of the evening.

Only then does he go home, walking the few blocks back to the house, the bag of carrots he had left so many hours ago to buy tucked safely under his arm. Danny slides through the front door and instantly he is shoved back against it, the power of his body being pinned to the wood is enough to slam the door shut. There’s a hand at his throat and when Danny’s ears stop ringing and his vision focuses he sees a pair of piercing blue eyes staring directly into his own. 

“B-Brian, what are you doing?” Danny asks. 

Brian’s hands fly from Danny’s body and Danny rubs at his throat, right where Brian’s fingers had pressed against him. 

_‘I didn’t know it was you.’_ Brian signs, _‘You didn’t come back for so long. I thought you got captured. I thought they were coming for me next.’_

“Brian,” Danny says, a frown tugging at his mouth, “It’s fine, I’m fine. I met a girl at the store and she invited me out to dinner that’s all. Look, see, I got the carrots and everything.” 

Brian’s brow furrows, _‘A girl.’_

“Yeah,” Danny says, bypassing Brian and walking into the kitchen to put the carrots into the fridge, “Her name is- “ 

There is the sound of a hand slamming down against the countertop and Danny whirls around to see Brian, his palm pressed against the counter, and his brows drawn together in anger. He’s got his mask on, but even then, Danny can read his emotions plain as day. 

_‘I don’t want to know her name.’_ Brian signs, fast, eyes still hard at Danny. 

Danny frowns. He had wanted to tell Brian about Alice, about how he hadn’t felt this way about a girl in a very long time, maybe ever, how it was new and scary and exciting, and the last thing he expected was for Brian to grow angry at him. 

“What’s the matter, Ninja Brian?” Danny asks, failing to keep the hurt from his voice. 

He sees Brian soften, for just a moment, and then the ninja is tipping his face down, his hands moving slower as he speaks to Danny.

_‘There is always a girl.’_

That helped clear nothing up except that, okay, Danny met a lot of ladies, but Brian had never cared much before about what Danny got up to or who it was with, as long as Danny was safe.

“Brian, are you jealous?” Danny asks. Brian’s head whips up, eyes big in surprise, “Is that it?” Danny asks, amusement lacing his voice, “Oh, Brian, don’t be jealous.” Danny pads over to Brian, resting his hand on Brian’s strong shoulder, “You’re my best friend and no girl can ever change that, okay, buddy?” 

Danny is watching Brian for the sign that he’s okay, that this is fixed now, and Brian is quiet for a moment, eyes a mask, hiding everything behind them, impenetrable to Danny. Then, slowly, Brian nods, eyes flickering shut before they open again and any sign of soft or hard is gone, Brian is blank, eyes wide and searching as they usually are. 

_‘Okay, Danny.’_

Danny pats Brian’s shoulder once more before he smiles and tugs Brian in for an awkward side hug. Brian isn’t big on affection or touches, his body going rigid as Danny squeezes at him. Danny laughs, doesn’t make Brian suffer for too long as he slides away from his silent companion. He heads toward the living room, now that things with he and Brian were settled his thoughts return to Alice and again Danny feels like he’s walking on clouds. 

“Oh, I am going to see her tomorrow. I just wanted to give you a heads-up so you’ll know I’m safe and _not_ kidnapped.” 

Brian nods once, no humor to his eyes, and then he turns and heads back towards his bedroom, not even signing a quick _‘goodnight’_ to Danny. 

\--

The next day Danny wakes up and as he pours cereal for breakfast he notices a note on the table, the handwriting clean and neat. The note simply reads: _‘I’ll be gone training most of the day. I may also stop and visit the Barricorn. I may not be home for dinner.’_

Dan frowns at the note. It wasn’t usual for Brian to leave so early, and most of the time he enjoyed training in the quiet of their shared house instead of out in the general public. Danny remembers Brian’s odd behavior and thinks maybe the issue wasn’t as put to bed as he thought. 

Still, Brian is gone and Danny won’t go look for him if he doesn’t want to be found, it would be a fruitless task as Brian’s skill has increased in the years since leaving the clan, while Danny’s sharpness faded, it was safe to say that the student had surpassed his teacher. 

\--

At ten minutes to noon, Danny is standing outside the diner that he had met Alice at the night before, the same spot they had agreed to meet up for the day. Again, Danny was nervous, an unusual feeling and one of his least favorite emotions to explore. His palms were sweating and he wiped them on the silk of his kimono. At noon on the dot, he saw a swish of blonde hair and Danny felt his heart leap into his throat as he squeaked out a greeting. 

Alice smiled, leaned in toward him. She smelt sweet like flowers, she was wearing a light colored dress, and she kisses Danny on the cheek, making his skin burn where her lips touch. What the hell was happening to him? 

“Ready for lunch?” Alice asks, offering her arm to Danny. 

“Oh, absolutely,” He says, running a hand through his hair to smooth the unruly curls. He links his arm with hers and lets her lead him into the restaurant.

\--

Danny’s time with a girl is usually measured in days. It’s not something conscious or planned, not something he tries to stick to, it just seems like he never spends too much with one woman. It’s now been officially two weeks of him spending nearly every day with Alice. The other thing that Danny isn’t used to is the snail pace of physical affection. That second date nearly two weeks ago Alice had kissed his cheek, squeezed his hand, and told him she’d see him soon. It was a week before Danny got the chance to kiss her for real again, their mouths slotted together in a sweet press. 

Two weeks and Danny is worse off than he was when he met her. She’s enchanted him, right down to his bones. He’s never felt like this before, doesn’t know what it means, but the idea of what it _could_ be terrifies him, a deep seeded fear, but even though he feels it, it isn’t enough to scare him away, his need to see her even stronger than that fear. 

Tonight, finally, she smirks at Danny as they split the check at dinner and tells him low and sweet, “Why don’t you show me where you live?” 

That lead to them arriving at Danny and Brian’s place. The house empty and quiet because Brian is off training once again. It seemed to Danny that his training was keeping him out of the house more and more, Danny seeing very little of the man. Anytime he tried to talk to Brian about it, the ninja went silent, hardened up in a way that was familiar to Danny, a mirror to how he walled off any emotion that passed through him back at the compound. Danny missed his friend being around, couldn’t wait to set things right between them so he’d have his best friend back, but at the same time, he couldn’t complain about Brian being gone because that left the house to just Danny and Alice. 

“Nice place,” she says, toeing out of her heels, and she’s hardly any shorter without the shoes on, still able to meet Danny’s eyes. 

“Thanks, I do what I can.” 

“Do you have a roommate?” Alice asks, “Or you live here all alone?” 

“Oh, I have a roommate, but don’t worry, he’s out for the night.” 

Alice’s eyes sparkle, catching Danny like a web, holding his gaze. She reaches out and takes his hand, tugs him into her hold, into a kiss that is searing. Her lipstick smears against the corner of his mouth, tastes like wax, but he sighs into their kiss. 

It’s a quick jaunt to the bedroom, to what is more familiar to Danny. She presses him into the mattress by his shoulders, she is a curvy and beautiful line on top of him. Alice rides Danny that night in the quiet darkness of Danny’s bedroom, and even sex- which he was sure he knew so well- felt different with her, better somehow, their touches and sounds hotter than he’s ever experienced before. 

Afterwards, Danny kisses the back of her shoulder, brushing blonde hair away from her neck to press his lips there as well, her skin tasting like sweat and perfume. In the dark safety of his room, Danny confessed his deepest fears to the woman. 

“I think I’m falling in love with you.” 

\--

In the morning Alice is still there and Danny wakes up with her in his arms. His fear is there, but distant, a small pulse under his skin. After he had confessed to her the night before, she had turned and pressed her lips to his, breathing her reply against his mouth: _“Me too.”_

She wakes and he kisses her shoulder again, “Are you hungry?” 

“Why you want to go to the diner?” Alice asks, turning so she can face him and planting a kiss to his mouth. 

Danny brushes a strand of hair from her face, “I can cook! I’ll have you know, that you are looking at the guy that won most improved chef at Madame Blasco’s School of Cooking,” Danny says, pointing to a low shelf in his room where the small gold trophy sits next to a framed picture of Danny and Brian at their former cooking class, Brian looking like he’d rather be anywhere but in this picture alongside Danny. 

“Alright,” Alice says, “Impress me, Mr. Sexbang.” 

Danny grins and slides from the bed, pulling his red velvet housecoat from the floor and sliding it on, tying the black strand of rope around his narrow hips to keep it in place. Danny goes to the kitchen and as he gathers his materials for one omelet al a Sexbang he notices that Brian’s bedroom door is ajar, the same as it had been the night before. Had Brian not come home? Danny doesn’t remember hearing him arrive. He frowns. Where had Brian slept last night? Danny had been hoping his best friend would be home today, he wanted to introduce Alice and Brian since she was apparently sticking around, or at least, Danny hoped she would be. 

Danny cracks three eggs into the sizzling pan on the stove, humming a song he had heard on the speakers at the diner, how it played nearly every time he went there with Alice. He’s so distracted by cooking, by the happiness wrapping around him like a warm blanket, that he doesn’t recognize the presence behind him until the very last second. 

Danny whirls around, a leftover reflex from his days in the compound, and he sees Alice there, looking perfect in her soft purple lingerie. He smiles at her and she smiles back. 

“Breakfast isn’t ready yet.” 

“I know,” Alice says, “But _I’m_ ready for you.” 

And before Danny can speak she’s got him pressed against the refrigerator, kissing him breathless, hands on his shoulders. Danny tries to protest, to remind her of his eggs on the stove and how he doesn’t want to start a fire, but he melts into her touch, lets her tug him towards the bedroom, her hand reaching out to click off the stove mid-step. 

Danny’s eyes shift closed and Alice’s fingers graze the back of his neck, her nails scratching so lightly against his skin. Danny moans against her, and at the same time the front door to the house bangs open, more than that, the door is _kicked_ clear off its hinges, falling to the floor with a loud bang. 

The two of them break apart and then Brian is rushing into the room, his eyes huge and his sword drawn, chest rising and falling like he had run the entire way here. 

“Brian?” Danny asks, his eyes widening when he notices the steady flow of blood from Brian’s left arm, “Brian! What happened?” 

Brian doesn’t answer. Instead, his eyes narrow at Alice and Brian lunges at her, sword drawn. 

“Brian!” Danny shouts and his instincts cause him to shove Alice out of the path of the sword, Danny drawing back just in time to avoid being stabbed clean through with the weapon, “What are you _doing_?” Danny shouts. 

Brian points at Alice and his eyes are dangerous slits. 

“Stop! Brian! I know her…she’s my…my… _girlfriend_!” Danny says. 

Brian freezes for a moment, eyeing Danny, his eyebrows raised in surprise.

“I wanted to introduce you, but you haven’t been home!” Danny says, “And you need to stop trying to kill- “ 

Danny is interrupted by a new flurry of noise, voices and footsteps and then there are blackened figures crashing through the front windows of their house, seeping into the open space where the door once stood. 

Brian whirls around drawing his weapon, raising his arms in defense and Danny can see the thick line of blood drip from Brian’s wounded arm, the material of his outfit ripped and dark with blood. Danny knows that Brian must be hurting but that he’s refusing to show it, even for a second in front of the enemy. 

Danny glances between Brian and the ninjas and Alice, his heart in his throat. 

“Believe it or not, I can explain this,” Danny says, “And I promise I’ll keep you safe.” 

Alice smiles at Danny, takes his hand in her own. 

“I know I’ll be safe, but what about you?” She asks. 

“What?” Danny asks, the words barely out of his mouth before Alice has a knife gleaming in her hand, Danny recognizes it as one of the thick butcher knives from the kitchen. Suddenly Alice swings her arm at him, trying to slice at him and Danny backs up, dazed, stunned. “Alice!” 

Brian moves next to Danny, cutting through a ninja that had been aiming for him. He has just enough time in-between attacks to flash a sign to Danny, _‘She. Is. The. Enemy.’_

“What? No, she isn’t she’s a…” Danny trails off because Alice is swinging for him again with the knife and Danny leaps backwards, nearly into a ninja waiting to dice him to pieces, but Danny ducks and slides across the floor, his back to his bedroom door and suddenly he’s facing the chaos in front of him. 

“No,” Alice says, “I’m afraid he’s right. This was supposed to be _easy_ and your companion was supposed to be dead already, but I’m afraid my team is just that incompetent.” 

It’s then that Danny notices the design on the front of one of the slain ninjas that Brian had managed to take out. The familiar design. The twin golden dragons. They are from his clan. The clan he and Brian had abandoned so many years ago. 

“You’re from…the clan?” Danny asks, heart squeezing tight in his chest. His back against the door frame, Alice rounding on him with the weapon, her movement swift as she circles him. Behind them, Brian is single-handedly taking on a small horde of ninjas. 

“Yes,” Alice says, voice firm and colder than Danny is used to, “I was given your assignment by Elder Zan. I was sent to assassinate you once and for all.” 

“Elder Zan?” Danny asks, “I don’t…” 

“Of course you don’t know him,” Alice spits, “You didn’t stick around long enough to know him. You abandoned your clan, _our_ home and then killed your brethren instead of accepting death like the coward you are!” 

Pain etches itself through Danny, spider webbing across his chest. He’s distracted long enough for Alice to drive the knife toward him, her aim precise and nearly nailing him in the neck. 

“Let’s just say that Elder Zan is very wise and knows your _exact_ weakness,” Alice says, pursing her lips at him in a small pout, “A pretty face.” 

Danny hears a thump and looks up to see Brian on his knees, a ninja driving his fingers into the wound on Brian’s arm. Danny can see the rush of blood and he can see Brian’s jaw clenched tight in a silent scream. His heart leaps to his throat. 

“Brian!” Danny says and Alice lunges at him again, but he dips around her, moving fast enough that he’s able to land a punch to the ninja’s face, knocking him away from Brian. That small move gives Brian enough time to thrust his sword behind him, driving it into the enemy that had been sneaking up on them. 

_‘I need your help’_ Brian signs, lighting fast before he’s swinging his blade again.

“B-Brian, I _can’t_. I gave that up. I can’t do it.” 

_‘Sometimes you have to!’_

“Don’t listen to your friend,” Alice says, rushing at Danny, “Go ahead and make it easier for me to gut you like a swine.” 

Danny dodges her attack, but as he does so he nearly backs into another enemy. He panics, knowing he won’t get far without a weapon, that Brian can only do so much. If he wants to live…if he wants to keep going…he’s got to fight or at the very least defend himself properly. 

Brian swings at a ninja and his guttural cry is enough of a distraction for Danny to dash pass Alice. He grabs for the sword of one of the fallen ninjas that Brian had dispatched. It has been so long since he held a weapon, the weight of it surprising him. Danny wasn’t Ninja Daniel, but he had been, once, and whether or not he liked the fact, he knew that Daniel still lived inside of him, somewhere deep down, and Danny had spent so many years pushing him away, only to need that version of himself now.

“I do not intend to lose this battle,” Alice says, discarding the butcher knife and picking up a sword as Danny had done, “Elder Zan handpicked me for this mission and I will not disappoint him. I will not be like _you_ ,” Alice seethes, and she lunges at Danny. 

He ducks, draws his blade swinging out at her side, but she’s fast, confident and skilled, and she side-steps him easily. 

“It’s been four years,” Danny says, “Why now?”

“We’re bringing honor back to our clan, restoring the what you stole from us.” 

Alice brings her blade down, the edge nipping at Danny’s shoulder, grazing his clothes. His heart is in his throat. He doesn’t want to do this. His chest aches. Why had he fallen for this trick? Why had he been so drawn to this woman? Did this Zan really know Danny so well that he could have predicted the feelings Danny would have for Alice? It was all planned, every action, every word, every kiss and touch building an opportunity for Alice to kill him. 

Pain wedges between every inch of his body, not physical, not a wound one can see, but internal damage. The emotions that had scared Danny, that he had longed to express, now they were causing his demise. They weakened him, _she_ weakened him in a way no enemy had before. 

The last of the ninjas in the room crumples to the floor, taken down by Brian. He lifts his head and focuses on Alice. Danny watches as Brian rushes at her with lightning fast speed, intent on ending this as quickly as possible. Danny is confident, hardly breathless. He’s watched Brian kill so many, ending lives as if it were the easiest thing in the world. Alice would be another name to add to his list. 

Alice dips out of Brian’s path and she grabs hold of his wounded arm, tugging it back at an unnatural angle. Brian’s jaw clenches and he can’t scream but Danny can sense it, can feel Brian’s pain as if it were his own. Their movements are fast as Brian uses her grip on his arm to cause Alice to lose her balance, flipping her over his back, intending on slamming her to the ground. Instead, Alice lands on her feet, graceful like a cat and she swings at Brian. He steps out of the path, but Danny can see he is tired, already wounded, older than Alice. 

“Let’s make this even,” Alice says lightly, and from the cup of her lingerie she pulls a small black object, dropping it on the ground and instantly smoke rises. Danny’s eyes burn and he steps away from the billowing cloud. Brian does too, darting backwards towards the kitchen, eyes scanning for Alice. Neither of them notices her behind Brian until it is too late. 

“One-versus-one,” Alice breathes against Brian’s ear, her hand on his shoulder, and her sword drives clean into Brian’s chest, emerging through the other side. Brian’s eyes are wide, pained, and it’s all those years ago in an instant, Danny watching Brian’s eyes as the knife was dragged across his throat. He is quiet as he slumps, as Alice pulls her blade free, and Danny watches the casual way she flicks her blade free of Brian’s blood. 

Brian slumps to the floor, falling onto his back and Danny panics, “Brian!” the man doesn’t move, doesn’t twitch, and pain floods Danny. 

_Loving something so much you’d die for it_

Alice is before him, smiling at him. 

“He was supposed to be dead by now anyway. The ninjas he so graciously killed in your tacky little living room were supposed to kill him last night. He was never supposed to make it home.”

“And then you were going to kill me,” Danny says. 

“I _am_ going to kill you,” Alice corrects, “Right now. Don’t feel too bad about your friend, you’ll be joining him in a moment.” 

Blind fury fills Danny, mixes with the pain, the love that had once filled him turns dark, shifts into blackness like storm clouds, making Danny twist with agony, rage, makes him stupid and dangerous all at once. 

He lunges at her, quick, swinging the blade and Alice’s eyes widen. 

“There he is; the man I’ve been dying to fight.” 

“Take a good look,” Danny says, “It’ll be the last face you ever see.” 

Alice laughs, and it only drives the rage to flame up in Danny’s chest. Every second he sees Brian’s lifeless body on the floor it starts anew, a fresh round of hurt. Alice lunges at Danny and he swings his blade up, the metal meeting and clanging together. 

Danny aims for her feet, arching his blade, but Alice leaps over the strike, thrusting her weapon at him. The very tip of her blade grazes his chest where the robe Danny is wearing is open. Danny breathes. 

“I expected more honestly. What a letdown. You’re the one that evaded death all this time? What, did you let your _dog_ over there fight for you? Well, I guess you did, huh? Before I drove my sword right through him, just like the mongrel he was.” 

Danny lets out a scream, the sound being torn from him and he can’t believe it’s even him as he practically roars, throat on fire and he charges her. He breaks every rule his body has ever known, going against his own training, his own vow to never let emotion affect a fight. He gives in to the rage, the unadulterated anger that burns through him. His body moves fast, swinging and thrusting, the movement coiled deep in his bones, waiting, hiding until Danny needed it again. The ninja in him bursting free, like Danny is a husk, and now the spirit inside of him was freed. 

Alice is less prepared for this version of Danny, this true fierce nature. All kindness, all morality sapped from him. He is merciless in his strikes, giving her little time to catch her footing and defend herself, stepping over bodies and sliding through blood. 

She swings at him, but he ducks easily, like child’s play. In Danny’s head he sees Brian’s smile, he feels the touch of Brian’s hand firm on his shoulder. All he sees is red. He kicks his leg out and it doesn’t connect with Alice but she slips in blood in her effort to move out of the way, off balance for just one second, one breath, but that’s all he needs. It’s all the time he needed to lose his best friend, and it’s all the time Danny needs to drive the sword deep into her chest, piercing her skin and not letting up until the hilt was flush against her skin and the metal blade had emerged through her other side. The force behind the thrust enough to pierce the wooden floor. The weapon being locked into the floor keeps Alice on her feet, stuck on the blade like an animal, her eyes wide and crimson blood spilling from her mouth when she tries to talk. 

“I knew…” she gasps, “I knew you were just like the r-rest of us…yo-you can pretend to be different…w-we’re all children of our c-clan…even you…even now…you can never abandon it…” 

Alice’s body loses its footing and Danny watches her slide down the length of the sword until her back hits the floor, already dead by the time she touches the ground. 

Danny flies to Brian’s side, collapsing on his knees next to Brian’s body. It couldn’t be true. It couldn’t be _real_. 

“Brian,” Danny says softly. The rage that had filled him disappears and is replaced with sorrow, a deep and unending sadness that he doesn’t think will ever fade, not if Brian has left him for good. With shaking hands, Danny lifts Brian’s head, sets him against Danny’s folded thighs. Danny gets his fingers under the mask and tugs it up and free, revealing Brian’s face to him.

He had aged, but he was still the man Danny has known, the man that has stood by him since the day Danny tried to leave the compound. Brian’s eyes are closed, his face slacked, marred with stubble. Danny touches at his cheek, sweeps his fingers down to Brian’s neck, feeling desperately for a pulse, for any sign, any hint of life in the other man. 

“Brian, _please_ ,” Danny says, his voice cracking. 

Danny touches at the wound on Brian’s chest, the cut wide and deep and Danny does not think fortune will spare them a second time. 

“I’m sorry,” Danny says, setting his forehead against Brian’s, Danny’s hair covering their faces from the outside world, “I’m sorry I made you fight for me. I’m sorry I put that on you. I should have been by your side, protecting you as much as you did me…” 

Danny can feel tears pricking at his eyes. At the compound all he wanted was to feel, to experience a life outside the walls, but if this is what it meant…death and pain, and this utter sadness that cuts Danny straight to his core. Was it all worth it? 

“Brian,” Danny says, tears forming in his eyes and sliding freely down his cheeks, “Brian, please don’t leave _me_ ,” Danny pleads with the silent figure, “I can’t do this without _you_.” 

Danny thought he never knew love, he thought he didn’t experience the emotion until Alice came into his life, but here, on the floor with Brian in his arms, Danny knows he was wrong. He loves…he _loved_ Brian. The man, his student, his best friend, his most trusted companion. Brian held a huge piece of Danny’s heart, and now it was gone. 

“I can’t be Danny without you,” he says, cupping Brian’s cheeks, moving so the two of them are nose to nose, “I can’t _be_ without you.” 

Danny feels the faintest hint of breath on his chin and he pulls back lightning fast, eyes wide and wounded, framed with tears. Brian’s eyes are opened, but just barely, flickering dimly as they focus on Danny. 

“Brian!?” Danny says, and he’s still crying, maybe even more now. 

Danny sees Brian’s fingers twitch with movement. 

“How are you alive?” Danny asks, fear and joy washing over him, drowning him. 

Brian’s hand comes up, moving slow, _‘Her aim wasn’t as good as- ‘_

And Danny cuts Brian off mid-sign, leaning down, hands still on Brian’s cheeks as he leans in to bring their mouths together. The kiss is soft, gentle, but full of every emotion Danny’s ever had, his mouth feeding it all to Brian, willing him to _feel_ the relief washing over Danny, the pure emotion stronger than happiness, something new that Danny can’t even describe at Brian being alive. Danny feels Brian’s hand that had been raised to sign, instead curl into the fabric of Danny’s robe. 

They break apart and Brian’s eyes are opened, a hazy blue as he searches Danny’s face, a weak and calloused hand moves to push into Danny’s hair, cupping his cheek and Danny leans into the touch like it’s all he needs to survive. Danny kisses Brian’s palm, pressing his mouth against the fingers that still let Brian speak to Danny. 

Brian’s thumb swipes at Danny’s cheek, at where there are still tears, still wet tracks. 

_‘You’re crying?’_

“Of course I’m _crying_ ,” Danny says, “I thought you…I thought….” 

Brian’s eyes search Danny’s face, his eyebrows knitting together. _‘But I’m not. It will take more than that to end me.’_

Danny nods, sniffs and lets out an embarrassing sob. Brian’s smile is soft but pained. He turns his head and Danny knows he is looking at where Alice lies dead in their house, pinned to the floor. He looks back at Danny, and he doesn’t need to sign for Danny to know he’s asking if Danny had to do it, if Danny is okay. 

“An anger took over me. I was him again, Brian. I was Daniel. It was as if I could feel someone else take over me, but it was just me, he’s been there all along. I am him.” 

Brian shakes his head, clasps one hand with Danny’s and with the other he raises it so Danny can see it. 

_‘No. You are Danny. You are my Danny.’_

Danny presses his forehead against Brian’s, smiling and he kisses the corner of Brian’s mouth because that love is there, full and real and stronger than anything Danny’s ever felt before. Nearly losing Brian has put everything into such a sudden and almost uncomfortably sharp focus. When he looks down at Brian all he sees is that love reflected back at him, no mask, nothing hidden between them.

\--

Brian spends two weeks recovering in bed, Danny acting as nurse and handmaid as he cares for the older man. Life has resumed to somewhat normal, as normal as could be. A man, a rapper and part-time DJ that Danny and Brian had befriended by the name of Egoraptor, was more than happy to come in and dispose of the bodies of the clan, cleaned their house, and fixed the previously broken door and window too. Danny wasn’t sure why or how Egoraptor got these tasks accomplished and when Danny tried to ask, Egoraptor had given Danny a small smile and said that he owed Brian a lot and this was how he could repay the favor. Danny didn’t ask, would wait until Brian was fully healed to broach that particular topic, though a part of him is still afraid to bring it up. 

Danny lies in bed beside Brian, his head against Brian’s shoulder. Brian’s shirt is off, his midsection covered in bandages. Danny knows Brian is itching to fight, to train, that he feels any time spent not perfecting the craft of fighting is time wasted. Danny settles his hand over Brian’s.

Over the two weeks Danny had explained all that Alice had told him, and in turn, Brian had explained how he had been ambushed on the outskirts of the park he was training at, how the clans members had told him they had been sent to kill Brian and that Danny was meant to be dispatched by a head assassin. Brian had been wounded in the fight because he was focused on returning home to Danny, determined to save Danny’s life yet again. 

“This Zan sent them after us,” Danny says, “Just because he failed once… I don’t think he’ll stop.” 

Brian nods, _‘He seems far more determined than the former elder.’_

That begged the question then. Should they stay in their home? Stand their ground? Or should they leave? Switch locations as they always had? Danny had posed this question to Brian and the man had flickered his blue eyes over Danny, had searched him, and Danny had sensed the unknown in his answer before Brian had given it. 

_‘That is a decision you have to make,’_ Brian signs, slowly, _‘You know what I’ll do. I’ll fight. I’ll defend us here, or on the go, it’s what you want that makes the choice for us.’_

Danny sighs, nodding. He knows. It’s a decision to be made. He had vowed to never again fight, and he had broken that vow. What was his vow now? What did he want now? Well, that part was the easiest of all the questions he could pose to himself. All he wanted was Brian. Even though he knew that much, it was all easier said than done. Danny is still reeling from Alice, wears her death like an opened-wound. His feelings had been real even if he had gained them under Zan and Alice’s trickery. He had loved someone and he had killed her, and the memory of it still haunts him most nights as he lies down to sleep. 

Danny’s feelings for Brian were new, complex, and though he reveled in spending time with the man, it was still terrifying, still felt like leaping into the unknown. He hopes it will all make sense later, everything, Danny thinks, would come with time, their fates changing easily with the direction of the wind.


End file.
